La Famiglia (The Family)
by lorrie
Summary: Amy uncovers a piece of vital information concerning a mafia ring.
1. Chapter 1

**"La Famiglia"**

**Chapter 1 –'Setting up the Sting"**

**Author:** **Lorrie Ellis **

**Disclaimer:** **The following story is based on the characters of the TV Series "Good Luck, Charlie". The characters belong to Disney and the creators of the show, but the story is mine. ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY. (No copyright infringement is intended.) **

"Hey, Joey, have you talked with the boss yet?" Vincent Tartaglia asked his younger cousin, his thick Italian accent evident.

Joey nodded, placing his black book back into his jacket pocket. "Yeah, he says to speak with the man here and then get ourselves back home. He don't want us hanging around Denver too long, ya know?"

Vincent nodded. "Yeah, I know. I don't much like this place anyways, too much open space. Brooklyn will always be home."

Joey smiled and the two cousins shared a hearty laugh as they stepped into a nearby restaurant. Vincent's phone rang just as the two were being seated. "Yeah," he answered. "Okay, we'll be there."

Vincent tucked his phone back into his jacket pocket. "We meet with the man at midnight."

"Where at?" Joey asked.

"Warehouse 5, down near the airport." Vincent replied. "But, we've got plenty of time for a good meal." They placed their orders with the waitress and kept up a quiet conversation until their food arrived.

Across the street, Detective Nathan Martin and his partner, James Mack were staking out the restaurant and planning a sting operation, hoping to catch both Vincent and Joey as they met with, the man, which was their own Captain Jacobs. "Captain," Detective Martin radioed. "We're holding position. Suspects are still in the restaurant."

"Roger that, Martin. The meet is going down on schedule at ten." Captain Jacobs replied.

"We'll be there." Detective Martin answered.

"So what do you want to do until ten?" Detective Mack asked.

"We wait." Detective Martin replied.

An hour later, inside the restaurant, Vincent checked his watch. "We'd better get going." He motioned to the waitress to bring the check and he and Joey left.

"There they are." James said as he watched Vincent and Joey head towards their car. Nathan quietly cranked the car and discreetly followed the two suspects as they left. "Alright, it's going down." James radioed as they pulled into the warehouse district. "Team two, what's your position?"

"Team two is in position." The radio crackled.

"Team three?" James radioed.

"Team three is in position." The radio crackled again.

As Joey and Vincent exited their car, a shower of bullets sprayed across the warehouse parking lot.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Detective Martin yelled into the radio.

"Boss, it's not us and it's not team three." Team two replied.

"Then who the heck is here?" Detective Martin yelled while pulling his service weapon. "Keep close. I don't know what we're walking into, but the Captain is down there and we have to assume he's in trouble."

The two lead Detectives made their way to the end of the warehouse and as Martin peeked around the corner, he saw Joey drag Vincent into the car. "What happened, Joey?" Vincent asked with a ragged breath.

Joey shook his head. "I don't know, Vinney. You just . . . you hang on, you hear?"

A smiled came to Vincent's face. "I hear ya, Joey. You're such a good boy." Vincent's eyes started to close. "Such a good boy." He repeated quietly.

Joey jumped into the driver's seat and sped away before Martin and Mack could confront him. "They'll be at the hospital." Martin said. "Radio Headquarters to meet them there. They'll need to beef up security too. There's no telling what Joey might do, especially if Vinney doesn't make it.'

Captain Jacobs spotted his Detectives at the end of the building and cautiously made his way towards them. "What happened? Who fired? I didn't give the signal. What . . .?"

"Hold on, Captain. We don't know what happened either. We didn't fire and we don't know who did, or why." Martin explained.

"We have a third party shooter." Captain Jacobs stated.

Martin nodded. "Yes sir, it looks that way."

"Where are Joey and Vincent?" The Captain asked.

"Vincent was hit and Joey dragged him into the car. I'm guessing he's headed to the hospital. We've beefed up security and unless you need the two of us here . . ."

Captain Jacobs shook his head. "No, go ahead."


	2. Chapter 2 Wrong Place, Wrong Time

**Chapter 2 –'Wrong Place, Wrong Time"**

"Whew! I am exhausted." Amy Duncan exclaimed as she took a seat in the Nurse's lounge.

"I know what you mean." Her friend Sarah replied. "I hate working blood drives."

Amy poured two cups of coffee. "You know what gets me the most . . . the big, burly guys that come in looking all macho and then faint when you pull out a butterfly needle, before you even stick them."

"I know. I'm pretty sure that whoever coined the phrase, 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall' must have been a nurse." Sarah laughed and pulled her purse from her locker. "Well, I'm out of here."

"I wish I were, but I'm pulling a double tonight." Amy replied as she looked at her watch. "Speaking of which, I guess I'd better get back at it."

"See you tomorrow, girl." Sarah said as she left.

"I'll be here." Amy replied. Just as she stepped behind the Nurse's desk, Joey came in, holding tightly to Vincent's arm to keep him from falling.

"I need help here!" Joey shouted.

Amy stepped out from behind the desk and motioned for an orderly to bring a wheelchair. "Take him to Room 3." She ordered. "Sir," Amy motioned to Joey. "I'll need you to fill out these forms." She handed him a clipboard with several papers attached.

Joey shoved the clipboard back at Amy. "He's my cousin. I need to be with him."

Amy shook her head. "Sir, I'm sorry, but no one is allowed in the ER Treatment Rooms while a patient is being treated. Now, I need for you to complete these forms as best as you can. I'll check on your cousin and let you know what's going on." She spoke calmly, but something about this man had unsettled her.

Joey calmed a bit, realizing he was drawing attention to himself and ultimately Vinney, which was the last thing he wanted to do. He looked down into Amy's eyes. "I'm sorry. It's just Vinney and me, we grew up together. We're closer than most brothers and . . . I don't want to lose him."

Amy noticed Joey's hands were shaking. She sat down beside him and took the clipboard. 'Why don't I help you figure this out?" She pulled a pen from the clipboard and read the first question; "Full Name?"

Joey paused. He knew he couldn't give Vincent's real name and couldn't recall if they'd settled on a fake one. "Could you excuse me a minute?" He held up his hands as he stood and then reached for his black book. He quickly dropped it into the pocket of Amy's uniform. "I . . . I forgot to call Vinney's wife, Marcy. I'm pretty sure you'll need some information I don't have with me too, right?"

Amy could only nod. She still found this man's behavior more than odd. "Okay. I'll check on Vinney while you're gone."

"Oh good, Nurse Duncan, you really have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, don't you?" Doctor Gordon announced. "Could you talk to him, see if you can get any kind of reply out him?"

"Sure." Amy replied. "Vinney, my name is Amy." She gently touched his arm. "Vinney, can you hear me?"

"Marcy? Call Marcy." Vincent whispered.

Amy shook her head. "Vinney, you're in the hospital. I'm a nurse, my name is Amy."

"Joey?" Vincent whispered again.

Amy nodded. "Joey is here. He brought you in. Vinney, you've been shot. Can you tell us what happened?"

"Meeting ten o'clock, warehouse, someone ratted us out. Set up. No good." Vinney closed his eyes again and passed out.

Doctor Gordon pulled Amy out into the hallway. "You're going to have to talk to the police, Amy."

From the hallway, Joey could hear the conversation between Amy and the doctor. He ran his fingers through his hair as his mind raced. "_Great, now I have to call Marcy again and report this information and reveal that I've lost my black book with names, phone numbers, addresses and codes that, in the wrong hands, say the police, could be devastating for the entire Tartaglia family._"

Amy shook her head. "Why?"

"He's a criminal. He's from New York and he was carrying a gun." Doctor Gordon replied.

"I admit that's suspicious, but how does that make him a criminal? What if he's a policeman?"

"That's all the more reason for you to talk to the Denver police and figure this out. The man was shot and it sounds like something was going down when it happened."

Amy started towards the waiting area to find Joey, but was surprised when she saw a group of four policemen surround him, pull his arms back, and handcuff him. "What's going on here?" She asked.

"Ma'am, please step aside." One of the officers stated.

"Amy, please, how is Vinney?" Joey shouted.

Amy nodded. "He's going to be fine. They're taking him up to surgery now, but the wound isn't that bad."

"Good, looks like your cousin will be joining you soon." One of the officers said as they prodded Joey out the door.

Amy sifted through a report on her desk and when she looked up, a police officer was headed towards her. "Ma'am, I'm Detective Martin. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

Amy nodded. "Hi, I'm Amy Duncan. What can I do for you?"

"Is there somewhere a little more private we can talk?"

"How about the Nurse's lounge?" Amy suggested.

"The Nurse's lounge sounds like it might be quieter." Detective Martin answered and followed Amy down the hall.

"Mrs. Duncan, you seemed very familiar with the man we just apprehended. How well do you know him?" Detective Martin asked.

"I just met him. He brought another man in. His cousin, I believe, and seemed very upset. I treated him just as I would any other family member or friend who had just brought in a patient." Amy answered.

Detective Martin nodded. "I see. He must have really connected with you. He's usually not such an approachable man. Did he say anything that seemed odd, or out of the ordinary?"

Amy shook her head. "No, but his cousin, Vinney, did. He mentioned something about a meeting." She fumbled through her pocket, here, I wrote it down: "Meeting ten o'clock, warehouse, someone ratted us out. Set up. No good."

A wide smile spread across Detective Martin's face. "You'd make a good detective Mrs. Duncan. What made you write this down?"

Amy shrugged her shoulders, "well, it seemed odd and who says 'ratted us out'?"

"Whatever the reason, I'm glad you wrote it down. Did he say anything else?" The Detective asked.

Amy shook her head. "No, he passed out."

"Thank you Mrs. Duncan," Detective Martin shook her hand. "You've been a tremendous help. If you think of anything else, please give me a call." He handed her his business card. "We've been trying to put a lid on this case for quite a while."

Amy followed him closely as he started towards the door. "What case? Who exactly are Vinney and Joey? They're from New York, right, are they part of the mafia?" With that question, Detective Martin stopped in his tracks and took Amy by the elbow, guiding her back into the Nurse's lounge.

"What else do you know, Mrs. Duncan?" He saw the confusion in Amy's eyes and softened his approach. "Mrs. Duncan, did Vinney or Joey talk to anyone else while they were here? Did either make a phone call, or . . ."

"Yes." Amy answered. "Joey made a phone call. He and I had just sat down to complete some paperwork and he realized he hadn't called Vinney's wife. He excused himself and I told him I would check on Vinney while he was on the phone, when I came back, you had arrested him."

The detective pulled out his phone, when he hung up, he stared at Amy. "We're a bit overworked and understaffed tonight, so I'll make sure someone takes you home and stays with you until we can get a safehouse ready."

"What exactly is going on?" Amy demanded. "You have my statement. I don't know anything else." She thought for a moment. "Wait, maybe I do. Vinney was barely conscious, but he mentioned calling Marcy. Is that his wife?"

Detective Mack locked eyes with Detective Martin and shook his head. "Vinney wasn't married and Marcy is a code word."

"Code word for what?" Amy asked.

"Mrs. Duncan, we're going to have to place you in protective custody until this is over." Detective Martin stated. "We'll have everything in place for you and your family by morning. Until then, there's a car outside of your house and your family will be under protective surveillance."

Amy shook her head. "No, this is not happening. You really think me and my family are in danger?" Amy asked.

Detective Martin nodded. "Yes ma'am. The Tartaglia family is very well known in New York and we have reason to believe that they're trying to bring part of their drug syndicate here to Denver. Just by hearing the code word 'Marcy', we think you may have heard too much."

"Yes, but I didn't tell anyone that Vinney mentioned 'Marcy'. The only other person that heard him was Doctor Gordon." Amy said as tears ran down her cheeks.

Detective Martin hung his head as Detective Mack spoke. "Someone else must have heard, Mrs. Duncan. Doctor Gordon was killed in a car wreck a little less than an hour ago." He let out the breath he was holding. "We don't think it was an accident."

"Oh no." Amy gasped.

"I'm sure this is difficult to hear. Were you and Doctor Gordon close?" Detective Martin asked.

Amy shook her head. "Yes, but that's not what concerns me. My oldest son and daughter are supposed to be on their way home from camp today."

Detective Mack pulled out his notepad. "What camp? Are they driving or on a bus? What are their names?"

Amy was beginning to panic. "I don't remember the name of the camp. P.J.'s driving. That's our son, Paul James, we call him P.J. and our daughter's name is Teddy." She pulled out her cellphone.

"Don't say anything to alarm them, but find out where they are, what town they're near and have them stop somewhere very public." The detective instructed.

Amy nodded and dialed Teddy's number.'

"Hey, I can't answer right now, but you know what to do. Talk to you soon!" Teddy's voicemail answered.

Amy shook her head and dialed P.J.'s phone. "Hey, there, it's P.J. I can't answer right now, but leave your name and number and I'll call you back."

Amy frantically shook her head and dialed home. "Bob!" She exclaimed, "Are the kids home?"

"Gabe and Charlie are here, but P.J. and Teddy aren't due back until tonight. Honey, what's going on? We have a police car camped out across the street and . . ."

"I'll explain everything when I get home." Amy said, trying not to cry. "Just, please call me if you hear from P.J. and Teddy. I can't reach them on their phones."

Bob's expression changed. "Neither one of them?"

"No." She recomposed herself. "I'm sure they're OK. But, please, if you hear from them, call me."

"I will, honey." Bob replied. "Love you."

"Love you too." Amy said softly.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3 Dazed and Confused

**Chapter 3 –"Dazed and Confused"**

"So, you had a good time?" P.J. asked Teddy.

Teddy turned and faced her brother. "You know, I really did. I'm glad you talked me into going. I've never really liked camp, but this was different. I really learned a lot."

P.J. smiled. "Good. I thought you might enjoy it. I hope you didn't mind that I didn't ask for you in my group, but I thought it might be a little awkward, you know, me teaching you in a teaching environment."

Teddy smiled. "I know, and I didn't mind. Katie was an excellent teacher. I learned two new songs and she helped me with my picking technique."

P.J. rubbed his eye. "Good. Katie's really nice and . . ." Before P.J. could complete his sentence, their tire blew out. "Hang on, Teddy!" P.J. shouted as he tried to control the car.

The car rolled to a hard stop, deploying the airbags. P.J. hit the side of the door and was immediately knocked unconscious while Teddy fought to keep the airbag out of her face. "Get out of the car!" A gruff voice demanded. "Now! Move!" Teddy felt someone pull her up from behind and before she could speak, something was shoved into her mouth and her wrists were tied behind her. "P-J" She shrieked through the gag and watched helplessly as P.J. was lifted up, still unconscious. Two men tied his wrists behind him and then both he and Teddy were tossed into the back of a windowless van.

Teddy scuffed her chin along her shoulder until she was able to remove the gag. "P.J.!" She called out, her voice just above a whisper. "P.J., please wake up!"

"Teddy?" P.J. said softly. "What?" He tried to move his arms, but found that he couldn't. "I can't move."

"Shh. Your hands are tied behind you. We've been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped, why?" P.J. said, trying unsuccessfully to sit up.

Teddy shook her head. "I don't know, but I'm scared."

In the front of the van, two fully armed men were taking careful note of the directions their GPS was giving them. "Marco, I'm calling 'Marcy' to let it be known that we have the targets."

"Ok, Sammy. We should be at the location in about an hour. Ask if everything is set up for the video feed."

Once Marco hung up, he turned to Sammy. "We're all set. We're supposed to rough them up a little on camera and see if that's persuasive enough for Mrs. Duncan to change her statement."

Sammy smiled and cracked his knuckles one by one. "It'll be my pleasure."

"Sammy, they're just kids. This is to scare their mother, not to hurt them . . . yet." Marco reminded.

P.J.'s eyes widened as he scooted in front of Teddy. "We're stopping."

Teddy closed her eyes.

"End of the line, kiddos." Marco stated as he dragged P.J. out of the van, followed closely by Marco and Teddy.

"Why are we here? What are you going to do with us?" P.J. asked.

"You know something, you're right. Yous deserve to know what this is all about." Marco started. "Your mama's got a big mouth and she has something that belongs to us."

P.J. and Teddy looked at each other. "Our mom, a big mouth, tell us something we don't know." P.J. said, still struggling to get his bearings.

"Your mama needs some encouragement to . . . let's say to do the right thing. The best dose of encouragement I can think of is to see the two of you hurting." Marco said as both he and Sammy began to slam their closed fists into the palms of their hands.

P.J. shook his head. "You seem like reasonable gentlemen. Can't we talk about this?"

"I'm sorry, kid. Truly I am, but I have someone to answer to and they want results quickly." Before P.J. could respond, Sammy backhanded Teddy across the cheek, hard enough to knock her down.

"NO!" P.J. screamed and stood up. "Listen, I have a proposition for you."

Teddy scrambled to her feet, desperately wanting to hold her cheek, but couldn't because her hands were still tied behind her. "P.J., don't."

"Don't hit her again." P.J. stepped in front of Teddy, and looked lovingly at his sister. "Please, don't hit her again."

"I'm not sure we can get our message across to your mother without hitting something." Sammy explained.

"If you have to hit someone . . . hit me." P.J. volunteered.

Marco shook his head. "That's beautiful. It's nice to know that chivalry isn't dead after all. I can only hope that my son respects and loves our Angie enough to do what you're about to do for your sister." He paused. "You do realize what you're about to do for your sister, don't you?"

P.J. nodded and stood firmly in front of Marco, waiting for the first punch.

"P.J. don't." Teddy whispered. "Please, don't."

"I can't let him hurt you." P.J. couldn't look at Teddy.

Marco's first punch slammed into P.J.'s stomach. He doubled over, trying to catch his breath. Before he could recover, Sammy landed a punch to his chin. P.J.'s world began to spin and then everything went black.

"That's enough for now. Who knows, maybe that's enough for Mama Duncan to do the right thing." Marco stated, staring directly into the hidden camera. "I really don't like doing this. He's just a kid, but orders are orders." He nodded towards Teddy, "cut them loose, they're not going anywhere."

When the two men left the room, Teddy scrambled over to her brother. She gently lifted his head into her lap and smoothed his hair back. "Oh, P.J., that was so stupid." She pulled him a little closer, thankful to feel him breathing and began to softly cry. "I love you." She whispered.

"You think that'll be enough for her to deliver the book?" Sammy asked.

Marco nodded. "It would be enough for me if someone roughed up one of my kids."

Detective Martin pulled into the Duncan's driveway and sent Detective Mack to the police car to bring them up to date on the case.

Amy fell into Bob's arms as soon as she entered the house. "Honey, what is it? What is going on?" Bob demanded.

"Let's set down." Detective Martin instructed. "By the way, I'm Detective Martin, my partner Detective Mack is on his way in." He extended his hand to Bob and then took a seat.

"So can you explain what's going on?" Bob asked.

Detective Martin drew in and expelled a cleansing breath. "We have reason to believe that your wife, and your family may in danger." He didn't wait for Bob to ask questions. "We were set up for a sting operation yesterday evening and it didn't go down as expected. As a matter-of-fact, we still don't know who opened fire on our suspects, but right now, our primary concern is for you and your family." He looked at Amy who was now holding Charlie and had her other arm around Gabe.

"I don't' understand. How could Amy be in danger?" Bob asked.

"One of our suspects was shot and brought to the hospital where your wife works. We think Amy may have heard some things that the mafia wouldn't want floating around, or getting back to us."

Bob held up his hands and shook his head. "Whoa, excuse me, did you say mafia? As in the mob?"

Detective Martin sat still for a moment. He hadn't meant to say that much, but now that the word was out . . . "Yes, I said mafia." He stared at Gabe, then Amy, then Bob. "What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room, understand?"

The family nodded and the Detective continued. "We've had the Tartaglia family of New York under surveillance since two of their top members arrived here in Denver last week. We know that they're trying to set up a new territory here and managed to convince them that our Captain Jacobs was a local dealer wanting to get into the big time. We had a meeting set up last night at ten and something went wrong. Someone fired on the Tartaglias and at this point, we don't know who." He paused. "Vincent Tartaglia was shot and his cousin Joey took him to the hospital. We have both of them in custody; however, we believe that Joey got a coded message out to his contacts in New York. Two other men arrived with Vinney and Joey two days ago, but no one has seen them since." He then pulled out security camera pictures of Sammy and Marco. "These are two of the Tartaglia family's muscle. Mrs. Duncan has already given her statement and we're certain that these two will do their best to have you retract it."

Amy's cellphone rang as the family looked at the pictures. When she answered, a video feed instantly came up. Silent tears fell as Amy watched Teddy being backhanded, heard P.J. defend his sister, and she screamed when the two men started beating her son.

Detective Martin took the phone from her and after watching it, reached for his phone. "How's that safehouse coming?" He paused. "We've got a phone call with a video feed. Looks like they've kidnapped the two oldest kids."

Bob and Gabe's eyes both widened as they heard Detective Martin speak. Gabe stood and made his way behind the officer who was still viewing the video. His mouth dropped when he saw P.J. As the Detective hung up, he noticed Gabe behind him. "You were supposed to be on the couch, weren't you, pal?" He asked.

Gabe nodded. "I saw it. P.J.'s hurt."

Bob stared at the Detective. "I need to see that too." He stated.

The Detective nodded. "I know. Our video tech will be here in a few minutes and we'll hook it up to the TV. Ma'am, you may want to take the little one out when we show it."

Amy nodded and said stoically. "I think I'll go ahead now and put her down for her nap." She held Charlie close to her and carried her to the bedroom. While she rocked her, her mind drifted to holding P.J. for the first time and rocking him; then to holding Teddy . . . "Please, let them be OK." She silently prayed. "Please, they have to be OK."

Gabe was unusually quiet. He sat as close to Bob as possible and was relieved when his dad wrapped his protective arm around him. "It's gonna be OK, buddy."

Gabe shook his head. "You haven't seen it yet, dad." He whispered. "That guy hit Teddy and P.J. yelled at him to not hit her again." Big tears rolled down Gabe's cheeks. "Dad, he made them hit him instead of Teddy. They beat him real bad. Why did he do that?"

Bob swallowed hard and fought to hold back his own tears. "Son, P.J.'s the oldest. He feels like he's supposed to protect all of you and that's what he did for Teddy." Bob squeezed Gabe's hand. "I'm sure it was hard for P.J. to see someone hurt his sister."

Gabe looked up at Bob. "But wasn't it hard for Teddy to see them hurt P.J. too?"

Bob nodded. "I'm sure it was, son."

Amy laid Charlie down her bed and quickly changed clothes, shoving her uniform into the hamper. She never noticed Joey's black book as it fell onto the bathroom floor.

When Amy emerged from the bedroom, the computer tech had arrived and made the necessary connections to show the video feed. "This isn't pretty, but at least we know they're both alive."

Bob kept his arm around Gabe and wrapped the other around Amy as they watched the video together. When it ended, Bob closed his eyes tightly, praying that P.J. wasn't hurt as badly as he appeared to be and that Teddy was still safe.

"We've isolated this part of the video." The technician explained, pointing a windowed area, "and we've narrowed the search area to . . ." she brought up a map and circled a twenty mile search area.

Amy shook her head. "I'm sorry, what makes you think they're there?"

Before the technician could explain, Amy received a text message on her phone. "_Amy by now u have seen what happens when u take something that belongs to me. I want the book. There's a key n your mailbox, take it & go 2 the bus station. Find locker 275, there u will find additional instructions. U have 45 min. Come alone or P.J. will suffer more."_

Amy couldn't speak, she handed the phone to Detective Martin. "What black book? Mrs. Duncan, what black book are they talking about?"

Amy shook her head and spoke, her voice barely audible. "I don't know." Tears streamed down her face. "I don't know. I don't have a black book."

Charlie woke from her nap and instead of crying or calling out for mama or daddy, she eased herself down from Amy and Bob's bed. The hamper sat at the edge of the bathroom door, effectively blocking her from entering the bathroom, but allowing her to pull the dirty clothes from the hamper. A small, black book caught her attention. She picked it up and began to gnaw on the edges. She stood up, with book in hand, and toddled into the living room where everyone else sat.

Bob was now facing Amy and holding her hands. "Honey, you have to think hard, did someone give you a black book?"

Amy shook her head. "I don't have a black book. I don't know what they're talking about, Bob. They're going to hurt P.J. because of it." She sobbed again.

Detective Mack hung up his phone. "That was the Chief. He said that Joey Tartaglia mentioned a black book, but he just said he lost it. The Chief thinks he may have placed it on Mrs. Duncan."

"Mrs. Duncan, where is your nurse's uniform?" Detective Martin asked.

"The hamper." She said softly.

As Bob got up to check the hamper, Gabe stopped him. "Wait!" He shouted. "Charlie's got it!"

"Charlie," Bob said sweetly. "Come here, sweetheart. Can daddy have the black book?" He reached out and Charlie handed it to him. Bob immediately handed it to Detective Martin.

"No!" Amy shouted. "I have to get to the bus station with that book." She reached for it.

"Mrs. Duncan, we have to have the information in this book and we don't want it to fall into the wrong hands." Detective Martin tried to reason.

"We're talking about the lives of my children." Amy said in a very determined voice; "You can have it once I know they're safe."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4 Mama Bear to the Rescue

**Chapter 4 –"Mama Bear to the Rescue"**

Amy's eyes pleaded with Detective Martin. "Don't you have a heart?" She asked.

"Ma'am, you have to understand what it means to have that book. There are codes in here that could be used to crack . . ."

"You have to understand that two lives are at stake here. I don't care what that stupid book means to you!" Amy shouted. "I want my kids back!"

"Boss, we can put a tail on her and . . ." Detective Mack started.

Detective Martin ran his fingers through his hair and nodded. "Get it set up." He instructed Detective Mack. "Mrs. Duncan, you have to do everything exactly as we say, understand?"

Amy nodded. "We have to hurry." She said, looking at her watch.

"I know. They will be watching you every step of the way. Trust that my people are around you, even though you won't see them. When this little run around game is over and they tell you where P.J. and Teddy are, just get out of the way and let us take it from there." Detective Martin instructed. "You'll be wearing a wire, so we'll hear everything you hear."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Bob asked. "Maybe I should be doing this."

Amy shook her head. "They don't know you. I'll be fine."

Amy took the key that was left in their mailbox and drove to the bus station. Inside locker 275, she found a note: _"Go to the fountain in the center of the mall and look under the block directly in front of the statue."_ She read aloud.

Back inside the car, she silently drove to the mall and followed the instructions; there she found another note along with another key. _"Go to the Employee's Locker area in the mall and find Locker #38. Leave the book there. We'll call your cellphone with further instructions once you leave the locker area."_

After hearing the last set of instructions, Detective Mack turned to his partner. "I don't like this. We've lost sight of her and the book, plus we don't know if the kids are even alive at this point."

Detective Martin nodded. "I'm going in." He shed his tie and suit jacket and made his way to the Employee Locker area of the mall. He cautiously crept through the hallway until he could see Amy's back. He stayed out of sight so he wouldn't frighten her. Once she left the locker room, a man stepped out from a back area and retrieved the book.

"Move in!" Detective Martin loudly whispered into this radio and pulled his service weapon at the same time, lifting it even with the man's neck. "Denver PD, don't move!" He shouted.

Marco raised his hands. "Wouldn't think of it." He said casually. Detective Martin pulled out his handcuffs and cuffed Marco's hands behind him. "You know, it's a shame about those two kids now. A terrible warehouse fire . . ."

Sammy was inside the warehouse and hearing Marco's cue through the microphone he had attached to his inside lapel, grabbed a syringe and threw open the door of the room where P.J. and Teddy were being kept.

"What are you going to do to us?" P.J. asked quietly.

"It's OK son, this'll all be over soon." Before P.J. could recoil, Sammy pulled his arm towards him and jabbed the needle into his muscle, injecting half of the contents.

"Oww!" P.J. exclaimed, grabbing his arm at the puncture site. Seconds later he went limp.

Teddy was too stunned to speak. She shook her head violently as Sammy pulled her arm towards him and injected the remaining contents into her arm. The liquid was hot and made her head feel light. She felt herself go limp, not completely unconscious, but immobile. "I wonder if P.J. felt like this?" Then she smelt gas and heard Sammy bumping around as he poured the flammable liquid around the warehouse, dousing the doors and then . . . she heard him light a match.

P.J. was on the verge of unconsciousness when the unmistakable smell of gasoline hit his nostrils. "No." He whispered. "Teddy." He mumbled, squeezing his eyes tightly closed against the pain in his head. Then he too heard a match light and the 'whump' sound of the flame igniting the gas. "_I don't want to burn to death,_" was the first thought that ran through his mind.

"P.J." Teddy called out as loudly as she could between the deep coughs that were racking her body. "Help!"

"Teddy!" P.J. called back, also between coughs. Somehow, P.J. managed to get to his feet and unsteadily made his way to his sister, pulling her to her feet. He pointed towards a steel storage box. "That's our only chance." He gasped as he grabbed a blanket from behind the chest and wrapped it around his sister. He then pushed Teddy into the box first and squeezed himself in behind her, closing the door behind them.

"It's hot." Teddy whispered tugging at the blanket she was wrapped in.

P.J. nodded as sweat began to bead on his forehead. "It's our only chance, Teddy. I think this box is fireproof, but that doesn't mean its not going to get hot in here." He pulled the blanket back onto her shoulders. "Leave that on, it'll protect your skin from the heat."

"What about you?" She slurred. Before he could answer, Teddy was silently. P.J. took her wrist and felt for a pulse. He sighed in relief as he found one, just as he passed out . . . again.

Back at the mall, Detective Martin slammed Marco against the lockers. "Where are the Duncan kids?" He demanded.

"Who?" Marco answered innocently.

Hearing the commotion, Amy returned to the locker room. She heard Detective Martin ask the whereabouts of her kids and also heard Marco's nonchalant answer. This pushed her over the edge. Before Detective Martin knew what was going on, Amy had leaped over the bench and slammed her body in to Marco's, knocking him to the floor. "Where are my kids? What have you done with them?" She shouted, slamming Marco's head to the floor with each question.

Detective Martin pulled Amy off of Marco. By then, Detective Mack had entered the room and not so gently lifted Marco from the floor.

"I think you'd be wise to answer the lady's questions, Marco." Detective Martin stated.

Marco shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Detective Mack spotted something hanging from Marco's lapel. He quickly capped his hand over the end of the microphone and popped it from the wire. "He's wired!"

Detective Martin shoved Marco against the wall. "Where is your partner and where are those kids?" He demanded.

"You'll never find them." Marco said calmly. "There won't be anything to find."

Amy began to tremble all over. "Her babies, her teenage babies, where were they? How were they?" Her knees buckled and she slumped to the floor, unnoticed by the Detectives. "What if they were dead?"

A police officer rushed past Amy to deliver a message to Detective Martin. "There's a four-alarm fire in the Warehouse District." He stated.

Detective Martin stood there with a blank look on his face. "And . . .?"

"Oh, yes sir. A man fitting Sammy Maso . . . Maeo . . ."

"Masollenni?"

"Yes sir. Masollenni. A man fitting Sammy Masollenni's description was seen leaving in a hurry."

"Thank you." He motioned towards Detective Mack. "We've got a lead." He nodded towards Amy's direction. "Have a car take her home and have the officer stay with the family. This may not turn out so good."

Detective Mack and a female officer approached Amy. "Mrs. Duncan, this is Officer Delany. I'm going to have her take you home. It will be better for you to wait there with the rest of your family until we hear something."

Amy defiantly shook her head. "No. No, I have to be with you when you find them. I have to hold them. I have to . . ." She was sobbing inconsolably at this point.

Officer Delany placed her hand on Amy's shoulder. "Mrs. Duncan, please, let me take you home." She said softly.

Amy drew in a ragged breath and turned to Detective Martin. "You promise, you'll call if you hear ANYTHING."

He nodded. "I promise."

Amy reluctantly agreed to allow Officer Delany to take her home. She wasn't doing anyone any good where she was, at least at home, she would be with Bob, Gabe, and Charlie, but how she longed for the other half of her family.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5 Rescue and Recovery

**Chapter 5 –"Rescue and Recovery"**

When the two Detectives arrived on the scene, the warehouse was engulfed in flames. Detective Martin shook his head. "We're too late."

"You don't know that." Detective Mack replied.

Detective Martin gestured towards the fire. "Take a good look at that James!" He shouted. "How do you think anyone could survive that?" He slammed is fist hard onto the hood of their car. "We let them down! We were too late!"

The Fire Chief approached the Detectives, running. "We may have two victims inside."

Detective Martin shook his head. "Have you called the coroner yet?"

"No, you don't understand, they're not dead."

"They're alive?" Detective Mack questioned.

The Fire Chief nodded. "I take it you know why they were in the warehouse? Are they in trouble?"

"If it's the kids we think they are, then yes we know whey they were there and no, they're not in trouble."

The fire brigade had cleared a path to the fireproof box Teddy and P.J. had held up in. The box was opened and each teenager carefully lifted out and placed on a gurney. Both were unconscious.

"What's the ETA on the ambulance?" A paramedic shouted out.

"Five minutes." Came a reply.

P.J. was turned on his stomach. "Second and third degree burns on his back. What about the girl?"

The other paramedic replied. "Just a few first degree burns on her hands. Looks like he shielded her."

Detective Martin shook his head. "He was protecting her like any good brother would do." Pulling out his phone, he dialed the Duncan residence.

"Hello." Bob answered abruptly.

"Mr. Duncan, its Detective Martin. We found them. They're both alive." He paused, waiting for that information to sink in with Bob.

Bob cupped the phone. "They're alive!" He shouted.

Amy tilted the phone so she could hear Detective Martin. "Please, let me speak to them." She said.

The detective sighted. "Mrs. Duncan, they are both alive, but unconscious. They're being moved to St. Mark's now."

"St. Mark's? They're unconscious? Why? What happened?" Amy bombarded the detective with questions.

"Mrs. Duncan, please. I don't know the extent of their injuries. There was a fire, and . . ."

Amy's eyes grew large and her hand flew to her mouth, as she ran out of the room. She knew she was going to be sick.

Bob started after her, but remembered the detective on the line. "What happened?" He asked.

Detective Martin told Bob as much as he could. "Mr. Duncan, I think both of you should be at the hospital when they bring them in." He paused. "Be especially proud of your son, Mr. Duncan. It looks like he did everything he could possibly do to protect his sister."

"P.J.? What do you mean? What . . .?" Bob asked.

"Mr. Duncan, please, just get to the hospital." Detective Martin said and hung up.

Teddy began to come around while the ambulance sped towards St. Mark's. "P.J.?" She whispered through the oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose. "P.J.?"

"Shh. It's OK, miss. Your brother is right her beside you. He's still out, but his vitals are all good." The paramedic assured.

Teddy nodded. "What happened?" She asked, pulling the mask from her face.

The paramedic stopped her and gently put the mask back in place. "Right now, let's leave that on. We're almost at the hospital." Teddy nodded and let her eyes move to P.J.'s still form. Something wasn't right, but she couldn't quite figure it out . . . P.J. was lying on his stomach. "Oh no." She whispered when she saw the dark colors on his back and two very vivid blisters on his spine, just below his shoulder blades, along with a very red face. "That happened because of me." Tears quietly ran down her cheeks.

Teddy immediately remembered how P.J. had quickly placed a blanket behind her and instructed her to crouch down as much as possible. She could feel him pull her close to his chest and cover her head with his own. She knew he had placed the only blanket behind her and that there was nothing between his back and the extreme temperatures the fireproof box endured. Her skin never touched the box, except . . . She looked down at her hands; they were slightly red, nothing more than a sunburn. P.J.'s back was almost purple.

After hanging up the phone, Bob sprinted towards their bedroom, the direction Amy had ran towards. "Amy! Amy, we need to go!" He shouted, checking everywhere for her. "Amy! Where are you?" Then he heard retching coming from the bathroom.

He gently pushed the bathroom door open. "Amy? Honey, we need to go."

She stood up and reached for the mouthwash to rinse the taste from her mouth and then turned to Bob. "He said there was a fire." Tears continued to streak down her face.

Bob nodded. "I know. You didn't hear the rest of it." He guided Amy to the edge of the bed. "Teddy is fine. Not a mark on her, except her hands are a little red."

Amy sniffled. "She is?" She then pursed her lips and looked up at Bob. "And P.J.?"

"P.J. has some burns on his back. Detective Martin said we should be extremely proud of our son. He protected Teddy in the fire. They found them in a fireproof box of some sort, and apparently P.J. put a blanket around Teddy and covered her with his body." Bob could feel his voice break. "There was nothing between P.J.'s back and the box. He has some burns, but we don't know how bad they are yet."

Amy's eyes widened again. "We need to go." She said quietly, almost afraid of what she would find when they arrived.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6 At the Hospital

**Chapter 6 "At the Hospital"**

Bob had quickly called Mrs. Dabney to come set with Charlie and Gabe. "Go, get out of here," Mrs. Dabney said as she walked in the house. "I've got these two."

Amy paused as she and Bob turned to leave. She touched Mrs. Dabney's arm. "Thank you," she said as she left.

Gabe and Charlie sat side-by-side on the couch. "Where mommy go?" Charlie asked. Gabe wrapped his arms around her and pulled her over to his lap. "Mom and Dad have gone to the hospital; they'll be back . . . later . . . won't they?" He looked to Mrs. Dabney.

"Well, sure they will." Mrs. Dabney said as she took a seat next to Gabe.

"PJ's hurt. That guy punched him and . . ." Gabe said softly.

Mrs. Dabney started to say something, but didn't want to offer false hope without knowing the situation. "Gabe, I'm sure your folks will let us know something as soon as they can." She could only pray that the news would be good when they did call.

"Amy and Bob Duncan, our children were brought in and . . ."

A nurse immediately motioned over Detectives Martin and Mack. "Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, here, let's have a seat." He directed them to a remote area in the waiting room. "They're both being treated for smoke inhalation. I assume for what they breathed in before they got into the box. I know Teddy is being settled in a room and we'll get you back to see her in a few minutes, PJ has been taken to the burn unit and they'll let us know his condition as soon as they can." He waited for this information to settle in before speaking again.

"Burn unit?" Amy shook her head. "No. Oh no. How bad?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know. It would seem that PJ's quick thinking is the only thing that saved both he and Teddy." He shifted his position on the stiff seat. "They were both injected with something and the doctors are flushing that from their systems. I'm sorry but right now, that's all I know."

Amy leaned back against Bob and instead of sobbing, she felt that she just went numb.

"Thank you, Detectives." Bob replied as he held his wife.

"We need to get back to . . ." Detective Martin started, but was interrupted by Detective Mack, "What my partner means to say is that we will stay with you until you hear more on the kids'."

Teddy lay in her bed, oxygen mask still firmly in place, an IV running to her left arm, and a heart monitor steadily beeping while she slept. "I'll let her parent's know her condition as soon as I check in on her brother." Doctor Lewis stated to one of his nurses. Then he made his way down the hall and changed into a fresh set of sterile scrubs before entering the burn unit where PJ lay.

PJ was on his stomach, still wearing an oxygen mask, and hooked up to an IV to deliver pain medication and other fluids. His back had been dressed with loose fitting bandages and sterile saline. Doctor Lewis checked PJ's chart and marked a few things, then turned to do something he dreaded, speak with the Duncan's.

Charlie had fallen asleep on Gabe's lap. "Do you want me to put her down?" Mrs. Dabney asked. Gabe nodded and Mrs. Dabney picked her up and took her to the bedroom. After she had her situated, she came back into the living room, stopping briefly outside the bedroom door. "Gabe, do you want something to eat?

"I'm not hungry." He replied.

Mrs. Dabney stepped over closer to him, careful not to say anything about the warehouse fire she knew Gabe knew nothing of. "Do you want to watch TV?" He shrugged his shoulders. She flipped the TV on and moments later a Special News Bulletin interrupted the programming.

"We interrupt this program for a Special News Bulletin. A fire that broke out in the warehouse district has left two teenagers with injuries. Teddy Duncan and PJ Duncan were both taken to St. Mark's with non-life threatening injuries. While PJ Duncan seems to have incurred severe burns on his back, Teddy Duncan has escaped with relatively minor injuries. We will bring you more as soon as we know something."

"Teddy and PJ?" Gabe said softly. He turned to look at Mrs. Dabney, "You lied to me!" He shouted.

"Gabe, I didn't lie. I didn't think you needed to hear all of that on top of what you already knew." Mrs. Dabney said.

"I have to see him!" Gabe ran upstairs. Mrs. Dabney was stopped by; the ringing of the phone.

"Duncan residence." She answered. "Hello, Duncan residence," she repeated.

"Is Mrs. Duncan at home?" A man with an Italian accent said.

"No, she isn't." Mrs. Dabney replied, "May I take a message?"

"No, no message." The voice replied.

"Boss, the Duncan woman ain't at home, but a lady answered, so she may be staying with the two younger kids." The Italian man replied into the phone.

"You know what to do." The voice replied and hung up.

Amy looked up as the doctor approached the waiting room, a somber look on his face. "Mr. and Mrs. Duncan?"

"Yes, we're the Duncan's'." Bob replied.

"I'm Doctor Lewis. I've been the head physician on both Teddy and P.J. Would you like to join me in my office?"

Amy and Bob followed Doctor Lewis to his office. "How are our kids?" Amy asked.

Doctor Lewis smiled slightly. "Teddy is sleeping peacefully in room 204. She's going to be fine, she just inhaled a bit of smoke and there is the issue of the drugs . . ."

"Drugs? I don't understand." Amy replied.

"Teddy and PJ were found in a warehouse along the warehouse districts, and they both have drugs in their systems. Dobutamine, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. I'm afraid I have no recourse but to turn my finding over to the police." Doctor Lewis stated. "While Teddy is, so far, showing no signs of heart infractions, PJ is, well, he's showing signs of Tachycardia and I'm certain it's directly related to the Dobutamine."

Bob interjected, "Wait, you think our kids took the Dobuta . .. whatever themselves?"

"It's a very common illegal substance and yes, I'm afraid I do. It would seem that they were messing around with the drug and somehow got caught in a warehouse fire."

Amy had remained silent while Doctor Lewis ran off at the mouth, but there was no way her children took drugs and there was no way anyone was going to pass this off on them. "Doctor Lewis, I am tired. I am a mess from all of this that we've been through in the past 24 hours. And I have had about all I am going to take from you. Detectives Martin and Mack will address this situation with you and I want another Doctor on both of my children's cases." Amy stood up and Bob placed his hand up to his forehead, knowing what was coming next. It would appear that Amy was going to go all mama bear on the good Doctor, not that he didn't deserve it, but never-the-less. Amy turned to Doctor Lewis. "First, my children do not do drugs. They're good kids and got caught up in this mess. Secondly, I want to see Teddy and PJ. We've waited long enough and if PJ has developed Tachycardia I want to be with him when he wakes up. You see, I'm a nurse at Community General and I know what Tachycardia can do, now would you be kind enough to take me to my kids and I'm sure if you check around the hospital, you will probably find Detectives Martin and Mack."

Doctor Lewis caught one of the nurses on her way down the hall. "Would you take Mr. and Mrs. Duncan to see their kids, please?"

When they reached Teddy's room, Bob and Amy were both surprised to see her setting up. "Teddy!" Amy exclaimed as she entered the room.

"Hey mom, dad," Teddy coughed a raspy cough. "Where's PJ? Is he OK? They won't tell me anything. That can't be good, right?" Another coughing fit overtook her.

"I'll get the nurse," Bob said as he stepped out of Teddy's room.

He was back in just a minute with a nurse. "Teddy, are you having another coughing fit?"

Teddy started to answer, but another coughing fit came instead. "OK, sweetie, let's get you on a nebulizer." The nurse turned to leave the room and was back again in just a moment. "OK, here we are." She soon had Teddy hooked up to a nebulizer and began her breathing treatment.

"How long?" Bob asked.

"The treatment, about 10-15 minutes, then she'll probably sleep." The nurse replied.

Amy and Bob waited until Teddy's treatment was over and she was sleeping peacefully, and then asked the nurse to take them to PJ.

The nurse stopped them just outside of PJ's room. "You'll need to put on these sterile scrubs before entering."

"Why?" Bob asked.

"To prevent infections. You'll also need to put on these gloves and please keep touching to a minimum." The nurse held out the open gloves for both Bob and Amy. "Now, please keep in mind he's on a heart monitor, there's an IV, and he's been intubated to help him breath. Remember, keep touching to a minimum."

Amy nodded and then she and Bob entered the room. The heart monitor was the first thing you could hear, a steady, although very quick, beep, beep, and beep. PJ was lying on his stomach, his head turned to one side. "The doctor is trying to keep him unconscious for the time being." The nurse told them. "Go ahead, touch him, his arm, his head, anywhere but his back."

Amy gently touched his arm and tears weld up in her eyes as she felt the warmth of his skin. "He's too warm." She said quietly.

The nurse nodded. "He's developing a fever, that's why we're being so precautious with germs and all."

Amy nodded, and then looked up at Bob, who was way too quiet. "Bob?"

Bob very gently touched PJ's head and then the tears began to flow. "Oh, PJ." He leaned down and kissed his sons mop top, then cradled PJ's head.

"How bad are his burns?" Amy asked.

"Second and third degree." The nurse replied.

"Skin grafts?" Amy asked.

The nurse looked at her quizzically, "the doctor hasn't said yet."

"May I see?" Amy asked.

"I don't think . . ."The nurse started.

"I'm a nurse at Community General. I've seen it all and I would like to see PJ's burns."

The nurse nodded again and then called for replacement bandages before removing the current ones. She was extremely gentle when removing the ones over the two third degree burns over PJ's spine. "They really don't look that bad, it's just the germs we need to be very careful of."

Amy nodded and helped the nurse place new bandages over her son's wounds. She gently touched PJ's unbruised cheek. "I love you PJ." She said softly, her hand lingering on his cheek.

Bob slowly lifted PJ's head from the crook of his arm. "I love you son."

Amy took Bob by the arm and they made their way out of the burn unit, removed their sterile scrubs and paused. Bob was staring straight ahead and then slowly let himself slide down the wall in the hallway, bent his head and cried.

"Bob?" Amy sat with him. "He's going to be OK and so will Teddy."

He nodded his head and wiped his eyes. "I know, it's just . . . it's so hard to see them like that. Teddy coughing until she couldn't catch her breath and PJ," Bob looked up at the ceiling and the tears came again. "PJ just looks so helpless. I mean he pretty much is helpless being unconscious and all."

"Honey, you know they're keeping him unconscious so he won't be in pain, right?" Amy said.

Bob nodded and wiped his face again. "Let's see if Teddy's awake."

"OK."

"Gabe, you are not leaving this house and that's final." Mrs. Dabney said.

"You don't understand, I have to see PJ. I, I was mad at him for going to that stupid camp and I wished something awful would happen to him and now it did and . . . this is all my fault!"

"Gabriel, do you honestly believe that you caused all of this? That you caused all of the events that led up to Teddy and PJ being in the hospital?" Mrs. Dabney asked.

Gabe stepped down a couple of steps and answered her by shrugging his shoulders.

"Come here." She waved him down the steps. As soon as Gabe's foot hit the bottom step, the lights went out. "Gabe."

"That wasn't me." He insisted.

"Arch!" Mrs. Dabney yelled.

"Mrs. Dabney!" Gabe felt two hands grab him around his face, and then he heard Charlie cry out.

Gabe fought until he was free of the hands that had grabbed him and he ran into his parent's room where Charlie had been sleeping. "Let go of her!" He shouted at the man who had picked up his sister from her baby bed and was making his way to the window with her.

"What the . . .?"

Gabe made a swipe at the kidnapper with a bat he picked up when he entered the room.

"Arch!" The kidnapper cried out as the bat connected with his leg. He dropped Charlie and she ran to Gabe.

Gabe picked her up and quietly made his way outside. "OK, now we need to call the police and see if we can get Mrs. Dabney out."

"Dab-y." Charlie said as she looked towards the back door.

"Gabe, Charlie." Mrs. Dabney called out.

Gabe lifted his head out of the bushes. "Over here." Mrs. Dabney made her way towards the bushes where he and Charlie were hiding.

"We need to call the police." She said.

Gabe pulled out his cellphone. "Got it covered."

Amy's phone rang as she and Bob were headed towards Teddy's room. "Hello."

"Mrs. Duncan, are you with your kids?"

"No, we're on our way to Teddy's room, why?"

"One of you go to Teddy's room and one to PJ's, there's not time to explain, just go."

Amy quickly hung up. "Bob, go to Teddy's room, I'm going back to PJ's."

"Amy, what's going on?" Bob asked.

Amy shook her head. "I don't really know, but I think we need to listen to the Detectives."

Bob took off in a run for Teddy's room and Amy did the same towards PJ's. "What's going on?" One of the nurses asked as Amy started to put on the sterile scrubs.

"I'm not sure, but I think PJ may be in danger." She allowed the nurse to help her with the gloves and then entered PJ's room.

"Hello, Mrs. Duncan." A man greeted as she entered the room. "Oh, don't worry, PJ's still sound asleep." He held up a gun for Amy to see. "You see, I could kill him now and he would never know anything about it."

"What do you want?" Amy asked.

"You know what I want. The book." The man replied.

Amy shook her head. "I don't have the book, Detective Martin does." The man allowed an evil smile to cross his lips, then aimed the gun at PJ's still form. "Too bad."

Before the man could pull the trigger, Detective Martin slammed into the room, causing the man with the gun to momentarily loose his concentration. Detective Martin slugged the man in the face, then received a couple of punches to the gut. Amy quickly moved towards PJ and unhooked everything; a nurse had stepped inside the unit to see what the ruckus was. "Help me get him out of here." She was already pushing the bed towards the door.

"It's not sterile out there." She said.

"It's not sterile in here either," She nodded toward the two men fighting. "They both came in without sterile scrubs on." She continued to push the bed towards the door.

"Wait." The nurse called out and then propped the door open. "We don't want to hurt him going through the door."

Once in the hallway, Amy checked on PJ. "He's waking up."

"I'm not surprised, we didn't have him very far under." The nurse said.

PJ gasped for breath as Amy and the nurse parked the bed in the hallway. "PJ, honey can you hear me?"

PJ wheezed.

"I'm right here, baby." She gently touched his arm. "It's going to be OK."

PJ tried desperately to speak, but couldn't with the intubation tube down his throat. "He reached for the tube."

Amy brushed his hands away and quickly moved a chair near PJ's head. "Shh," she then motioned to the other nurse. "Can you help me?" She turned to the nurse and began to remove the tube. PJ gasped for breath as the tube came out. He coughed a deep cough and with tears in his eyes looked painful at Amy. "Ted-dy?"

Amy gently touched his arm. "Honey, Teddy's going to be OK. She's in a room a couple of flights down."

PJ's face wrinkled up, pain filled. "Mom."

"I'm here, honey."

"Back hurts." Tears were welling up in his eyes.

Amy ran her fingers through his hair and nodded. "I know, baby. I know. As soon as we can get you into another room, the nurse will give you something for the pain."

"Come on, let's get in the car." Mrs. Dabney said.

"You don't have a car seat." Gabe replied.

Mrs. Dabney looked around and saw the car seat in Bob's Bug truck. "Wait just a minute. You two stay right here." She headed towards the truck carefully, so as not to attract any attention.

"OK, you two little ones, you can come out now, the old bat is gone." The would-be-kidnapper called out, hoping Gabe and Charlie would come out.

"Shh." Gabe motioned to Charlie.

"I'm just a nice policeman." The man called out again.

"Policeman," Charlie said, just a little too loudly.

"Gotcha!" The man picked Charlie up by the collar of her shirt, which caused her to cry out.

Gabe came out immediately and began to kick the man in the legs. "Let go of my sister!" He yelled.

Mrs. Dabney heard all of the commotion and started on her way back to the house only to be stopped by the other would-be-kidnapper.

The man who held Charlie finally kicked Gabe in the side to get him off of his leg. Gabe rolled over to the edge of the deck and could do nothing but watch as the man took off with Charlie. "Charlie!" He shouted as loudly as he could, but his side hurt too much, he suddenly felt very queasy and then everything went dark.

Moments later, he could feel someone holding up his head. "Gabe! Gabe, wake up!" Mrs. Dabney shouted. "Where's Charlie?"

Gabe's side hurt, especially when he tried to breathe, but he sat up, with Mrs. Dabney's help. "They took her."

The police and EMT's finally showed up on the scene and Detective Mack made his way towards Gabe. "Hey little buddy, how are you holding up?"

"They took my sister, how do you think I'm holding up?" Gabe answered as the EMT's began attending to his side and head.

"Can you describe them? How many were there?" The detective asked.

"There were two and yes, they were ugly. One of them was one of the guys in the video, beating up PJ and the other one . . . well, he was short and walked with a limp."

"Son, do you think you would recognize him?" He asked.

Gabe nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"OK, I'll bring a mugshot book down to the hospital."

"Hospital? No way! I'm not going to any hospital." Gabe began to protest.

"Son, you may have broken ribs. We have to take you to the hospital." The EMT stated as he held he was loaded onto a waiting gurney.

Gabe grabbed at his ribs as Mrs. Dabney looked down at her hands. "I'm coming too."

"You can ride up front with me." The driver announced.

Detective Martin slapped the handcuffs around the wrists of the man who had invaded PJ's room. "Where's the rest of your gang?" He asked as he slammed the man against the wall in the hallway.

The man laughed. "Let's just say Mama Duncan should be getting a phone call very soon." He continued to laugh as Detective Martin escorted him down the hall.

"Mom, what'd he mean?" PJ asked sleepily.

"Nothing for you to worry about, baby." Amy replied as she helped the nurse push PJ's bed into another room.

"We'll get him downstairs soon." The nurse replied.

"Can you put him in Teddy's room?" Amy asked.

The nurse paused. "I'll check with their doctor."

"PJ, I'll be right back." She followed the nurse outside of the room.

The nurse spoke with Dr. Andrews. "Doctor, they're both in danger and it would be easier to keep a guard on the door if they were both in one room."

Dr. Andrews approached them. "Mrs. Duncan?" He asked. "I'm Doctor Andrews. I took over your children's case from Dr. Lewis."

"Nice to meet you. I was just talking to your nurse about moving Teddy and PJ into a room together." She started.

Dr. Andrews smiled. "I know their situation well and that would be advisable. We could better keep an eye on each of them." His phone began to ring and he held out his finger for Amy to wait. When he returned, he stared at Amy for a moment. "Mrs. Duncan, I'm afraid that they've just brought in your other son."

Amy's eyes grew large. "Gabe? What happened?" She asked, quickly becoming hysterical.

"Julie, if you'll get PJ ready, we'll move him downstairs when I come back." He placed his hand on the small of Amy's back. "Mrs. Duncan, if you'll come with me, we'll see how Gabe is."

"Where's Charlie?" She asked frantically.

Dr. Andrews shook his head, "you have another son?"

Amy shook her head. "No, no, no, Charlie is our other daughter."

Detective Mack greeted Amy and Doctor Andrews at the elevator. "Amy, he's going to be OK. He's got cracked ribs and . . ."

"Cracked ribs? What happened?"

"They got there before I did. Amy, they have Charlie." Detective Mack stated.

"What?" Amy replied.

"I'm so sorry. They have Charlie." Detective Mack repeated himself. "But we're going to get her back. I promise."

Amy shoved the nurse aside until she was by Gabe's side. "Gabe? Sweetie can you hear me?"

"Mom." Gabe said softly. "They have Charlie."

She nodded between the tear. "I know, but they're going to get her back." She shot a look at Detective Mack.

Mrs. Dabney spoke briefly to Amy as she rushed by. "Amy, I didn't . . ."

"Haven't you done enough?" Amy asked. "My daughter is missing, and now my son is hurt, all because of you!"

Teddy began to stir as Doctor Andrews and Nurse Julie moved PJ into her room. They hooked everything back up and as Julie finished taking his vitals, Doctor Andrews turned to Teddy. "Hi, I'm Doctor Andrews. How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Teddy answered in a small, quiet voice, her eyes never leaving PJ.

"Doctor, I'm Bob Duncan, I'm their father." He shook hands with the doctor. "How is he?"

"He's tough." The doctor stole a glance at PJ. "We're going to bring the pain medication up a bit and let him relax a little while. The burns aren't as bad as we originally thought. The only thing that worries us now is his breathing and the rate of his heartbeat."

"He's allergic to Penicillin." Teddy offered.

The doctor nodded. "I know. It's in his chart. Is there anything else we should know?"

Teddy could only stare at her brother.

Bob pulled the doctor aside. "Doctor, where's Amy?"

Doctor Andrews stood for a moment. "She's downstairs in the ER. It would seem that your younger son was brought in moments ago and your other daughter is missing."

The color flushed from Bob's face. "What? I . . . I have to . . ., but I need to . . ."

"Bob. Why don't you go downstairs and be with Amy. We'll keep an eye on these two." Doctor Andrews stated and Bob nodded, heading towards the elevator.

Nurse Julie turned towards Teddy. "Teddy, how's your breathing?"

"It's good." She couldn't tear her eyes away from PJ. "Is . . . is his heart damaged?"

"Who, PJ?" The nurse replied. "Honey, we aren't sure yet, but we really need to get him on his back so we can run a few tests."

Teddy's eyes widened. "You can't turn him on his back. His back is burnt."

"Shh. Teddy, we'll give him something for the pain when the time comes, I promise you he won't feel a thing. PJ is going to be fine."

Teddy broke down. Hearing her sobbing, PJ began to stir. "Teddy?" His breath came in ragged gasps.

Julie ran over to him. "PJ."

He struggled to pull in another breath. "Can't . . . b-breathe."

Julie pulled the oxygen masked and quickly placed it over PJ's nose and mouth. "Breath deep, PJ."

She could see that he was desperately trying, but not succeeding. She pushed a button on the wall and a Code Blue call went out. Almost immediately a crash cart was brought in and Doctor Andrews returned. "We need to get him on his back."

With the help of two attendants, PJ was gently flipped on his back. He began to writhe as pain wracked his body, but his breathing eased. With his brow furrowed, he began to slow his own breathing using a technique that he had learned a long time ago, when he was younger. "Ted-dy?"

"I'm here." She quickly wiped away the tears. "I'm here, PJ." She said a little stronger.

"Sing . . . for me, please?" He asked her.

"What?" She asked, somewhat confused.

Tears streamed down PJ's face. "Please."

Teddy began to softly sing for PJ. She sang something soothing, something that allowed him to relax and breathe freely, a song that whisked away all of the pain and anguish."

Doctor Andrews smiled at her as she finished. "That was beautiful." He said, "and it really did the trick."

"Is he OK?" Teddy asked, her eyes never leaving PJ.

Doctor Andrews smiled. "I think he's going to be just fine. We're going to set up a machine in here to check out his heart. He should sleep right through it." The doctor stared at her again. "Teddy, why don't you try to get some sleep too, OK?"

She yawned. "I'll try."

Bob was holding Amy's hand as they waited for news on Gabe's ribs and to hear anything about Charlie.

Gabe had just returned from having X-rays. "Amy, two of his ribs are cracked. We'll tape them and you can take him home." One of the nurses explained.

Amy shook her head. "I have three of my four kids here in the hospital and my Charlie, my baby, is out there somewhere. I need to speak with Detectives Martin and Mack."

As if on cue, the two Detectives entered the ER, flashing their badges at the nurse's station. "Mrs. Duncan?"

"Where's Charlie?" She asked.

"Let's go over here where we can talk." The two detectives guided Amy and Bob to a corner of the ER where Amy could still keep an eye on Gabe.

They explained everything they knew up to the point where Charlie was taken away and Gabe brought in. "We brought along a mugshot book and if Gabe is up to it . . .?"

"Can you not see that Gabe is about half out of it?" She asked, looking back at her youngest son.

"The more we know about these two men, we will be better able to locate them." Detective Mack began. "Gabe said one of them was the same guy that beat PJ."

Amy felt her stomach churn at the mention of PJ. Her mind drifted back to seeing him in pain, seeing her baby hurt. Knowing how much each of those punches must have hurt and to protect Teddy. He had done it all to protect his sister. And then her mind switched back to seeing PJ's back earlier and how much pain he was in.

"Honey?" Bob voice brought her out of her stupor.

"Amy?" Detective Mack asked.

She nodded. "OK, let's see if Gabe is awake, but I won't let you upset him."

They made their way over to Gabe. "Gabe, are you up to talking to Detectives Mack and Martin?"

Gabe sleepily nodded his head. "Mom, how are PJ and Teddy?"

"They're both going to be fine." She replied, stroking the hair from Gabe's face.

"Good." Gabe replied. "Charlie?"

Detective Mack pulled up one of the mugshot books. "Son, we'll better be able to locate your sister if you could take a look at the pictures in here." Gabe started flipping through it. After a while, he was quickly growing tired of looking through and then stopped on one picture. "Hey! This is him! This is the guy that took Charlie!"

"Gabe, are you sure?" Bob asked, taking a look at the mugshot.

"Yes! Yes, I'm sure!" Gabe shouted. "He took Charlie."

Detective Mack took the book and called in the number. "Get me the last known location on 762543."

The voice on the phone replied back to him. "762543, Denver Colorado. Looks like he's used a credit card there at . . . Luigi's Restaurant."

"When?" Detective Mack asked.

"About an hour ago."

"Thank you." He hung up. "Why would he be a Luigi's?"

"Charlie." Gabe answered.

"Charlie? Why?" Detective Mack asked.

Gabe chuckled. "Charlie loves spaghetti."

"OK, I'm going to go check this out." He turned to Gabe. "You did good, kid."

"I'm coming with you." Amy grabbed her purse.

Detective Mack shook his head. "No ma'am. You are staying put. I'll bring Charlie back to you."

"But . . ."

"Amy, it's not going to happen." Detective Mack said and then turned a gentler tone towards her. "I promise I will get Charlie and bring her back here and then, hopefully, your nightmare will be over."

Amy nodded and turned to Gabe. "Thank you, sweetheart." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

Bob gently touched the arm of his son. "Thank you, Gabe."

Gabe squirmed, uncomfortable with all of the attention being on him. "You're welcome." He paused. "Hey, when can I see Teddy and PJ?"

Bob sat on Gabe's bedside and pulled him into a gently hug. "Soon, I hope."

Once Gabe had fallen asleep, Amy and Bob made their way back upstairs to check on Teddy and PJ.

When they entered the room, they could hear a heart monitor and their hopes fell when they looked at PJ. "What happened?" Bob looked at Amy. "What is all of this equipment hooked up to him?"

Amy's eyes were already tearing up. "They're checking his heart for damage and he's on a monitor/alert system." She explained just as Doctor Andrews stepped in.

"How is your youngest son?" He asked.

"He has a couple of cracked ribs and our daughter is missing." Bob said softly. "What happened to PJ?"

"I have good news and not-so good news." The doctor paused. "No significant heart damage has shown up on our tests," Amy's face showed elation at this news. "However, we are showing a bleed in the aorta. It's slight, but we will need to go in and stop it."

Amy's face fell. "When?"

"As soon as possible. I won't pretend that it's going to be easy, but we're going to try to use a procedure called Endovascular aortic repair. It involves the insertion of a stent into his aorta. We'll go through an incision in his groin and . . . Bob, are you OK?"

Bob sat with his head hung low. He lifted it at the mention of his name. "I'm . . . I'm just wanting to know when all of this will be over. We have three of our four kids here in the hospital and our baby is missing, now PJ's heading back into surgery and . . ." He just stared at his oldest son and listened to the heart monitor."

Amy wiped the tears from her eyes. "Bob, honey, PJ's in good hands, Teddy is fine and going to be released soon, and Gabe is OK too. When he wakes up from his nap, he's going to be released too." She paused. "And Charlie. Detective Mack promised he would find Charlie and bring her back to us." She had made her way to Bob's side and took his hand in hers. "We will have all of our babies back soon."

Bob nodded. "I just can't stand to see any of them hurting and all of them at once is almost unbearable."

"I know, and poor PJ, all he did was protect his sister and he's . . ." Amy stared at PJ.

Doctor Andrews read over the test strip and spoke to one of the nurses. "OK, we have PJ scheduled for surgery within the next two hours."

"I want Gabe up here." Amy stated firmly. "Before they take PJ back."

Doctor Andrews started to speak. "I don't know . . ."

"I do. Gabe needs to see PJ before he goes into surgery. He needs to be up here with the rest of the family while we wait." Bob explained.

"I'll take care of it." Doctor Andrews stated.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7 Waiting

**Chapter 7 "Waiting"**

Gabe was brought up to Teddy and PJ's room. The trip up from the Emergency Room had taken its toll on him. He turned towards PJ's bed, "PJ." and he fell asleep lying across the foot of Teddy's bed.

Bob placed a blanket over him and then turned to Teddy, placing his hand on her knee. "How are you doing, kiddo?"

Teddy stared at her knees and shrugged her shoulders. Bob pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "He'll be fine."

"Daddy, his back . . . being injected with that stuff . . . he . . ." the tears began to fall. "Daddy, he did that for me."

Bob snuggled his head on top of hers. "I know sweetheart. I know how hard it must have been to watch him take those punches and to wake up in the middle of a warehouse fire, and . . ."

Teddy shook her head. "The worst was when we woke up. We looked around desperately for an escape and the only thing we could find was a fireproof box." Tears flowed freely as Teddy spoke. "He shoved me into it and wrapped a blanket around me so I wouldn't get burned, then . . ., he . . ., his back."

Amy approached Teddy. "Teddy, why don't you try to grab some sleep before they bring PJ back in?"

Bob started to back away. Teddy grabbed him tighter. "Don't let go, Daddy." She pleaded in a whisper, and Bob just held her.

Amy stared at Gabe who had fallen asleep with his arm draped, protectively, over his injured ribs. She pulled the blanket up over him and again brushed an unruly piece of hair from his forehead. "I love you, Gabe." She then looked back at Teddy, "I love you, Teddy, and PJ, and Charlie." She began to cry.

Detectives Mack and Martin left Luigi's with hopefully enough information to lead them to Charlie and her captors. "OK, so at least we have an address." The credit card address had been provided to the restaurant.

"1501 North Banyard Street, let's go." Detective Martin said as he punched the address into the GPS.

They pulled up outside of the house. "It's registered to a Giovanni Morelli, matches the name in the book."

"Let's go." They both checked their weapons and moved in on the house. Peeking in the windows, they could see Charlie sitting in the floor, looking at a book. They nodded at each other and went in.

Two men were laughing in the kitchen, one was Giovanni. They were able to get the drop on them and arrest both. Detective Martin called in the arrest as Detective Mack scooped up Charlie and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Detective Martin asked.

"I'm taking this sweet, little, girl back to her mommy." Detective Mack replied.

"Mommy?" Charlie asked.

Detective Mack smiled. "That's right, sweetheart. I'm taking you to your mommy and daddy."

PJ was being brought back into the room. The family members were all quiet as they wheeled him in.

"PJ?" Amy asked, looking at the doctor.

Doctor Andrews smiled. "Everything went well. He's going to be sore for a few days, but he should be up and about probably by tomorrow."

"He's OK?" Bob asked.

The doctor nodded. "Yes, he's OK. No limitations once he's healed." Before Amy could speak up, the doctor continued. "Healing should take about a month, maybe a little longer and we'll keep him in the hospital for another week."

"Why?" Bob asked.

"To make sure he doesn't reject the stent, or any other unforeseen complications. But, I don't expect any." The doctor said.

Bob held out his hand. "Thank you, doctor."

"Just be easy with him and give him time to recover."

As Doctor Andrews was leaving the room, Detective Mack approached him. "Are Amy and Bob Duncan in there?" He asked.

"Yes. Is that Charlie?" The doctor asked.

Detective Mack nodded his head. "Yes, it is."

Doctor Andrews went back into the room with a smile. "Well, let's get her checked out too."

"Charlie!" Amy exclaimed as she took her baby from Detective Mack.

PJ stirred slightly at the sound of Amy's exclamation.

"Shh. Easy son." Bob soothed as Amy brought Charlie over to see her daddy and oldest brother.

"Hey there, sweetheart." Bob took her for a moment before Amy scooped her up again.

"Amy, let's check her out. I want to be sure that she wasn't hurt." Doctor Andrews explained.

Teddy looked on as the Doctor examined Charlie. "OK, little miss, let's get a look at you."

"No." Charlie said emphatically.

"Charlie, let the nice Doctor check you over." Amy said.

"OK." Charlie answered.

Once the Doctor was satisfied that everything checked out, he handed Charlie over to Amy. "Let's go see Teddy."

Amy placed Charlie in Teddy's lap. "Hey, Charlie." Teddy said quietly.

"Teddy, sad?" Charlie asked and moved her hand.

Teddy smiled. "Yeah, Teddy's a little sad." She looked over at PJ, who was still out of it. "He should be awake."

Amy looked at PJ and stepped over closer to his bed. "PJ, honey, you need to wake up."

"Amy, they said he'd be in pain when he woke up." Bob reminded her.

"But he does need to wake up. It's been almost an hour."

She scooped Charlie up and took her over to PJ's bedside. "Let's go see PJ."

Charlie leaned over, expecting PJ to take her. "PJ sleep." She looked at Amy and then back at PJ. "PJ!" She shouted.

PJ squeezed his eyes closed against the shouting. "Charlie." He mumbled.

"PJ!" She shouted again and this time PJ opened his eyes and took I a deep, even breath.

"Hey Charlie." He smiled.

"PJ, hurt?" Charlie asked.

He held out his arms to take her. She leaned forward towards him. "It's OK, mom. I've got her."

Amy sat Charlie on PJ's right side. "Be careful with PJ, he has several boo-boo's."

Charlie leaned in and kissed PJ's cheek, where a dark bruise had formed. "Thank you." PJ replied with a smile.

"Hey, what's up with Gabe?" PJ asked, seeing Gabe asleep on the end of Teddy's bed.

"Gabe has a couple of cracked ribs." Bob piped up.

"How did he crack his ribs?" PJ asked.

"When the men took Charlie." Amy replied.

PJ looked shocked. "What men took Charlie and where did they take her?"

"One of the men that beat you, and another man took Charlie from our house." Amy explained.

PJ's eyes widened with fear. "Where was Mrs. Dabney while all of this was going on?" He asked.

Amy and Bob looked at each other, neither had thought of Mrs. Dabney since Gabe was brought in. "I'd better see if she's still in the waiting room or . . ."

"Maybe we should just have her paged." Bob replied.

"Oh, OK, if you want to take the easy way out." Amy laughed.

"Oh, believe me, after these past couple of days, that's all I want, an easy way out." Bob replied.

Teddy made her way over to PJ's bedside and lifted Charlie out of the bed. "Charlie, why don't you go to dad for a while?"

"Okay." Charlie replied and Teddy handed her off to Bob.

Bob took Charlie and Amy out of the room, giving Teddy an opportunity to talk to PJ. "We'll just be right outside."

"PJ . . ."

"Teddy, it's not your fault. I'd do the same for any of you." PJ said.

Teddy nodded. "I don't know if I could be as brave as you are."

PJ looked puzzled. "Brave, what do you mean? I was scared to death."

She nodded. "Yeah. PJ, you made sure I was covered. You made sure I didn't get burned."

"It was impulse." He said, then sucked the words back in. "Not that I'm not glad it was me that got burned, but . . . I wish it was neither of us."

Teddy nodded. "Me too." She took PJ's hand in hers. "You're not half bad for a big brother, you know it?"

"You're not a half-bad little sister either." He smiled and then yawned.

"I had better let you rest."

He continued to hold to her hand. "Don't leave."

"I won't, but you have to promise to go to sleep." Teddy replied.

"OK." He yawned again.

"Would you two keep it down? I'm trying to sleep here." Gabe said softly.

Teddy and PJ both laughed. "I never thought I would ever see the day when I would be glad to hear your voice." Teddy said.

Gabe sat up very easily, so as not to disturb his ribs. "What are you two talking about anyways?"

"I was just telling PJ what a good brother he is. I have a feeling if Charlie could talk a little better she would be telling you the same thing." Teddy answered.

Gabe looked down, "but I failed. Charlie still got snatched and all I got was a couple of cracked ribs for my trouble."

"Gabe, don't joke around about this man. They could have killed you, Charlie, and Mrs. Dabney. They're dangerous men." PJ said.

Gabe nodded. "I know. Charlie's lucky she's too young to really remember all of this."

The three siblings sat together by PJ's bedside and let Gabe's words soak in. "She may be, but we're not." Teddy said softly. "I almost lost both of my brothers." She hugged them fondly.

"And you could have just as easily di . . ., not made it out of the fire." PJ said.

Bob and Amy started to open the door, but heard a bit of what their three kids were discussing. Charlie had fallen asleep in Bob's arms. Amy opened the door just a crack and heard PJ speak up. "If either of you had been . . . well, you know, hadn't of made it, I don't think I could have gone on. It would have been too hard."

Teddy, Gabe and PJ were still holding hands when Bob and Amy came in. "PJ, honey, don't ever think like that, please. We are a family and we can work through anything."

PJ nodded. "I know, but . . ."

"But your dad and I have been through hell and back in the past two days. PJ, first of all seeing you take that beating in the place of your sister, and then hearing about you and Teddy at the warehouse was one of, no, it was the worst thing I've ever been through in my life. Not knowing if you were alive or dead and then once you were found alive, PJ, hearing that you were in the burn unit and having no idea what to expect . . . it was just agonizing."

Bob spoke up, "then to get news that Gabe had been beaten and Charlie taken, that was about the last straw."

"I spoke with Mrs. Dabney, Gabe, and she said she could complete understand mine and your dad's reaction and that she offered no excuses for the men coming to our home and taking Charlie and beating you." Amy paused. "Gabe, she wanted me to tell you how sorry she was and that she hopes you feel better soon."

"That doesn't sound like Mrs. Dabney." Gabe replied.

"Son, I think she regrets not taking better care of you and Charlie. She let them get the drop on her." Bob said. "Not that it was her fault; these men were professionals."

Detective Mack knocked on the door. "May I come in?" He asked.

"Sure." Amy replied, smiling.

"I'm glad you're all back together and everyone is OK." The detective stated.

"Thanks to you and Detective Martin." Amy replied.

The detective shook his head. "No, we couldn't have done it without Gabe's help." He looked at Gabe. "You know you may have a career in detective work someday."

Gabe smiled. "I don't know if I'd want it."

"I know what you mean." The detective replied. "I thought you all would want to know that we've arrested Giovanni Morelli and Jocko Luka on three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault, and one count of kidnapping, extortion, and a long list of other charges.

"Will we need to testify?" Amy asked.

The detective nodded. "Maybe. Let's see where the lawyers take this first." He smiled at all of the kids again and started out the door.

"Detective, wait." Bob called out and caught up with him at the door. "The kids and Amy have all been through hell, is there any way to ensure that they won't have to testify?"

The detective shook his head. "Their testimonies are what will put these guys away for life."

"And who, in their organization, will come gunning after my family and when?" Bob asked.

Detective Mack put his hand on Bob's shoulder. "I know this is hard. I know you didn't ask for it and believe me, I know it's not fair, but after the trial, you and your family are going into the witness protection program. It's the only way to keep you all safe."

Bob allowed the detective to walk away, leaving him, and only him, with this bit of information. _"you and your family will be going into the witness protection program."_

Amy opened the door of the hospital room. "Bob, is everything OK?"

He continued to look down the hallway and then turned to Amy, "Yeah, everything is fine. Let's get back to the kids."

The End


End file.
